Initial quick charging valve for fluid pressure brakes



T.- H. BIRCH A ug. 12, 1947. v

INITIAL QUICK CHARGING VALVE FOR FLUID PRESSURE BRAKES Filed May 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 invern/0r' T720/7261251913 z'cfz Aug. 12, 1947. T. H. BIRCH 2,425,591 I INIVTIAL QUICK CHARGING VALVE FLUID PRESSURE BRAKES Filed May 3, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ffm s.

Patented Aug. 12, 1947 INITIAL QUICK CHARGING VALVE FOR FLUID PRESSURE BRAKES Thomas H. Birch, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Application May 3, 1945, Serial No. 591,802

3 Claims.

The invention illustrated herein is primarily adapted for use in railroad trains Where fluid reservoirs are charged to predetermined fluid pressures either from a yard line or from the y locomotive, and to which a valve is connected brake cylinder and also controls the charging of the reservoirs.

`The ports and passages in the AB valve and associated connections are so small, or have so much resistance, that the charging of the system on a car-as railroad men express it, charging of one brake-takes from seven to twelve minutes with a suicient capacity in the yard line or on the locomotive. Seven minutes is the minimum with the AB equipment and the best air supply. A number of indeterminate factors creeping in serve to increase that time and when it reaches fteen minutes, current rules require the brake to be condemned and the car cut out of the train.

The constricted ports and passages are said to be indispensable to the proper functioning of the AB brake equipment in service. They cannot be increased or lmade to pass the increased volume of air for quick initial charging without impairing the present scheme of operation in service. With the advent of the AB valve, two reservoirs are used instead of one as formerly, the emergency reservoir and the auxiliary reservoir, thus increasing the fluid capacity of the system and consequently increasing the time necessary for charging.

With an initial charging period of from seven to twelve minutes for one brake, or one car, an hour or more will berequired-to charge a hundred-car train, the net time being the result of the number of cars and the times in which the charging period varies from the minimum of seven minutes to the maximum of twelve or iifteen minutes. A

This loss of time in preparing the train to go on the road after it has been made up or even after the road engine has been coupled to it is very serious when measured solely inv unproducman power. But in an emergency such as the present that loss is much worse.

The principal object of this invention is to overcome the difculties mentioned and reduce v.the initial charging time of the reservoirs to a period on the order of two minutes or less, as compared with the present minimum of seven minutes per car. When the charging time increases beyond the present maximum of fifteen minutes, further time is then lost by the necessity of cutting out a car.

This object is accomplished by the addition of the initial quick charging valve of the present invention between the train line and the reservoirs, which will permit a direct flow of air into the reservoirs, without passing through the AB valve, until a predetermined air pressure has been built up in the reservoirs. After such predetermined pressure has been reached, the initial quick charging valve will automatically close, at which time the flow of air will continue to the reservoirs through the AB valve. This pressure maybe on the order of iifty pounds in either or both reservoirs when the shift is made to the AB valve. l

This enables the reservoirs to be charged quickly, perhaps within the time required for other preliminaries, and thus the delay occasioned by the slow charging featurev of the present AB valve is substantially reduced.

The invention will be described in connection with the standard AB freight brake equipment and mention of that equipment here is intended to take the place of drawings and description of the construction and description of the operation in its various forms, including the AB freight brake equipment, the AB-l-B brake equipment, the AB 4-12 brake for heavy cars, the AB automatic empty and load brake. Car Builders Cyclopedia, 1943, section II. Westinghouse Air Brake Company Instruction Pamphlet No. 5062, International Textbook Company Freight Car Brake Equipment, vol. 598. But describing the invention in connection with this standard equipment is not intended to place unnecessary limitations on the claims.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention Fig. 1 is a piping diagram of the AB freight brake equip-ment with the initial quick charging valve of the present-invention added thereto;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the initial quick charging valve;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the valve i on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a transverse section through one of the check Valves on line 4--4 olf Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 the brake pipe or train line is shown at I0, equipped With hose couplings II and angle cocks I2. The two-compartment reservoir I3 for each car includes an auxiliary reservoir I4 and an emergency reservoir I5. The AB valve, generally indicated by I6, includes a pipe brack'ei',` IIcarryingnan emergency p01;tio r1 A [M8: at the rightfaid'a service portion@ I9.. at Athe left. Emergency reservoir pipe 20 extending between the pipe bracket I'I and the emergency resemzoir I serves as a connection...,blejpvsreen`thelx Inergency portion of the AB valve 'andtha i eser- Voir. Auxiliary reservoir pipe 2I exte'ndmg' between the pipe bracket I'I andl'fthe;aux-iliar'yfl reservoir I4 serves as a connecgtion,betit/:eilenz the auxiliary portion oi the AB A"Valve and `that reservoir.

Air is supplied b-y a branch pipe 22 connected Vatpiznetend y .abranh line l, 23 withjheltrain pipe and Lat thel loth r 1j ment. It is inserted and removed fromv tli'eclifam- "ber40 throughathreadfed-openingjlg, noifrnally closedby a plug 43. K* n f 'f5-Air passes 'from theflter. cha-mbenli through l.the.duc/ t1ULirto afcheck-valvechamber I5-pro- Videdzsat each side-lwlith aLl-bra'sslwvaflve l'seat!` 45, fcoperatingwith a--che'ck--valve- 412,-- having a backing icomposed of a neoprene... dislQi48,-.or s.othersuitabley rubber-like compositibn -with a brass core 49, havinglg'uiding'ngers-f50coop4- erating with the cylindrical wall 5I `of the yex-4 tended valve chamber. Each check Valve is urged towards its seat by a helical spring 52 compressed by a plug 53, closing a threaded opening 54,

5 through which the various parts of the valves are inserted for assembly.

Each extended cylindrical portion 5I of the valve chamber communicates with an .outlet duct ze 55 which iiucts are,'cgniggeCte'dl;with#I the pipes 32 i and 33 by1 flanged union'connectionsl 30 and 3l.

In a construction that has been found satisn factory the inlet 39 is in. in diameter. The l chambenlq v152%, in. in diameter. The passages 4' andthe outlets 55 are in. in diameter. The chamber 45 is 1%; in. in diameter, the extension ,-1. 5Ifi's11112`in. in diameter, and other dimensions .0.Qg-P.-ii?s .r1 1Y A The 'train pipe pressure and the normal pres- .mSJlIe-,in the reservoirs when charged is lbs. 20 Which may be increased temporarily for mounpipe.' fThe auxiliary and: emergency 3 into I. shareware@ .2.9 .andthe pipes 32.9.11 3

.h .rSeri/Qirs; llanl; I 4- f ,the pressi; im. is im@ reservar.tethefzlesiid pdesmned bagged; 1011s.. ieglufin of the springs 52, the combined back `.the.pressure of .thosqsprings will @1.0

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.0. .ene-.mereserrfzirsf l flangia' as. ...,@ra11rbs1ih-dette@linesiiillie: 69 .Hemd-.melts immesse@ @prei/ideen ddiiienal vcut-out valve in order tg;` make'it A leiv to cut-out the brake on a Carr-For that ireon it is C therfla'ngjd union conectionbetween the corn-V bined"cutout cock and 'dirt' ce A- 7 pipe bracket of the AB valve.

part in brake operation.v

I claim:

1. In a fluid brake system for railroad cars, wherein emergency and auxiliary uid reservoirs are adapted to be charged with fluid to prede termined pressures from a main train line for operating the brakes, mechanism for initially and quickly charging both of said reservoirs simultaneously from said train line comprising a pressure regulated valve between said train line and said reservoirs through which fluid is adapted to pass, said valve including two valved outlets, one connected to the auxiliary and one to the emergency reservoirs and so constructed and arranged to selectively charge the individual reservoirs at pressures in accordance with the individual settings of the valved outlets, a brake actuating valve also connected between said train line and said reservoirs, and means included in said actuating valve whereby charging of said reservoirs is completed.

2. In a fluid brake system for railroad cars, wherein two reservoirs are adapted to be charged with fluid to predetermined pressures from a source of fluid supply for operating the brakes, mechanism for initially and quickly charging both of said reservoirs from said source of fluid supply comprising a valve construction having two valved outlets, each connected to a reservoir and so constructed and arranged to selectively charge the individual reservoirs at pressures in accordance with the individual settings of the valved outlets, a brake actuating valve, and means included in said actuating valve whereby charging of said reservoirs is completed.

3. In a fluid brake system for railroad cars, wherein emergency and auxiliary fluid reservoirs are adapted to be charged with fluid to predetermined pressures from a source of fluid supply for operating the brakes, mechanism for initially and quickly charging both of said reservoirs siinultaneously comprising pressure regulated valve means having a connection at one side thereof to said source of fluid supply, two valved outlets at another side of said valve means, one of said outlets being connected to the emergency reser- Voir and the other of said'outlets being connected to the auxiliary reservoir, means wherebl7 said valved outlets may be set to be actuated at predetermined fluid pressures to thereby selectively charge the individual reservoirs simultaneously at pressures in accordance with the individual setting of the valved outlets, and brake actuating valve means including mechanism therein whereby charging of the reservoirs is completed.

THOMAS H. BIRCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 572,871 Dallas et al Dec. 8, 1896 856,665 Wagner June 11, 1907 2,290,983 McClure July 28, 1942 

